Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.8361 — Qatar Airways/Alisarda/Meridiana) (Text with EEA relevance. )
Date: 2017-02-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: air transport, economic concentration, merger control








C_2017064EN.01000601.xml










28.2.2017   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 64/6





Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.8361 — Qatar Airways/Alisarda/Meridiana)
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2017/C 64/06)






1.


On 21 February 2017, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1) by which Qatar Airways Q.C.S.C. (‘Qatar Airways’, Qatar) and Alisarda SpA (‘Alisarda’, Italy), acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) of the Merger Regulation joint control over a newly formed holding company (‘HoldCo’) to which Alisarda will contribute the entire outstanding share capital of Meridiana fly SpA (‘Meridiana’, Italy), by way of purchase of shares.










2.


The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






—


Qatar Airways is a full-service airline that operates international scheduled passenger air services and cargo services from its hub at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. Qatar Airways is a member of the oneworld alliance and also provides certain ancilliary services, including aircraft maintenance services and ground handling services, mostly in Doha,










—


Alisarda is an holding company that provides scheduled and chartered air passenger transport, tour organisation, aircraft maintenance and airport administration services through its subsidiaires including Meridiana,










—


Meridiana is an airline that operates scheduled and charter passenger services and cargo services to destinations mostly in Europe and Northern Africa, as well as some destinations in the Americas and Asia. Meridiana has the following subsidiaries: (i) Air Italy Holding S.r.l. and Air Italy SpA, which do not operate any flights (scheduled or chartered), but wet lease aircraft to Meridiana; (ii) Meridiana Maintenance SpA, a provider of aircraft maintenance services to Olbia (Italy) airport to Meridiana and third parties; and (iii) Wokita S.r.l., a tour operator based in Olbia and offering holiday packages for Sardinia and other destinations in Italy (but not elsewhere) and operating as a travel agent for the sale of airline tickets.














3.


On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.










4.


The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.
Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. Observations can be sent to the Commission by fax (+32 22964301), by email to COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu or by post, under reference M.8361 — Qatar Airways/Alisarda/Meridiana, to the following address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Competition




Merger Registry




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË










(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’).